The Zebra Murders

The Zebra Murders

In 1973 and 1974, San Francisco was terrorized by a series of seemingly random shootings targeting white victims. The attacks became known as the Zebra murders, named for the special police radio channel used during the massive investigation.

The killings were attributed to a group of Black men associated with a radical religious organization that investigators called the Death Angels. Victims were often attacked without warning, frequently shot from behind as they walked through the city. The violence created widespread fear and brought San Francisco to the brink of a racial crisis.

The investigation became one of the largest manhunts in San Francisco history. Police eventually arrested Jessie Lee Cooks, Manuel Moore, Larry Green, and J. C. X. Simon. All four were convicted in 1976 and sentenced to life imprisonment. California appellate records document the extraordinary scale of Operation Zebra and the eventual convictions.

But the story of Zebra is also about what happened when fear overwhelmed civil liberties. In an effort to find the killers, San Francisco police conducted sweeping stops of Black men, particularly those who fit generalized descriptions of the suspects. Hundreds of African American men were detained, and a federal judge ultimately ruled the dragnet unconstitutional.

Among the survivors was Art Agnos, who was shot twice in the back in December 1973 and would later become mayor of San Francisco. Other survivors provided crucial information that helped investigators understand the attacks and ultimately identify the killers.

The Zebra murders remain one of the darkest and most complicated chapters in San Francisco's history. They were not simply a story about a serial killing spree. They were also a story about racial hatred, radicalization, fear, policing, profiling, and what happens to a city when the search for a killer threatens to consume the people who are supposed to be protecting it.

Sources

San Francisco Chronicle, “Terrifyingly random Zebra Murders”https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/terrifyingly-random-zebra-murders-4116923.php

San Francisco Chronicle, “Zebra murders meant to start race war”https://www.sfchronicle.com/books/article/zebra-murders-meant-to-start-race-war-2469576.php

California Court of Appeal, People v. Cookshttps://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/3d/141/224.html

San Francisco Chronicle, “KILLERS / Now There's a Sniper Loose on the Right Coast / S.F.'s own time of terror”https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/killers-now-there-s-a-sniper-loose-on-the-right-2785010.php

San Francisco Chronicle, “Infamous 'Zebra killer’ found dead in San Quentin cell”https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Infamous-Zebra-killer-found-dead-in-San-6133406.php

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